"Not bad, but the firepower's lacking against the mutants," he muttered. A handful of mutated zombies, more resilient than the rest, were emerging unscathed from the devastation. He dismissed it quickly—the spreaders were meant to thin the numbers, not handle specialized threats.
Zack turned back to the Avalon. "Ego, is the jammer still active?"
"Yes, sir. The jammer is functioning perfectly. Zombies continue to converge on its signal."
Zack glanced down, watching the horde relentlessly approach. Many were consumed by the inferno, their charred remains piling up, but more kept coming. Soon, the fire was smothered under their sheer numbers.
"Your move now, Ego," Zack said, slowing his thrusters to land back inside the Avalon. As he entered the cabin, Annie rushed over, her face lighting up with excitement.
"Big brother! That was amazing! Can I use that too?" she asked, eyes sparkling.
Zack chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Sprinklers need altitude to deploy. Tarantula can't fly, so you'll have to pass on this one."
Annie pouted. "Oh… fine." Their conversation was cut short as the tide of zombies below grew even denser. Though the outer perimeter had thinned significantly, the core horde pressed on.
"Ego, prep the cloud bombs," Zack ordered. The Avalon banked sharply, lowering its altitude for a precision dive. The roar of its engines drew the attention of countless zombies, their grotesque forms turning toward the sound.
Among them was a mutant Zack had never seen before. Its body was warped, no longer human in shape. Crawling on all fours like a beast, it sported grotesque, frog-like eardrums on its chin that expanded and contracted as it breathed. "What the hell is that?" Zack muttered, narrowing his eyes.
The mutant crouched low, its muscles coiled like springs. The eardrums on its chin ballooned to an alarming size, accompanied by a sinister creaking sound, as if its very flesh was straining under pressure. Before Zack could react, the mutant opened its mouth wide.
Boom!
A thunderous noise erupted as compressed air burst out, forming visible shockwaves. The air blasts rocketed toward the Avalon with terrifying speed, creating conical vacuums in their wake. "Air cannons?" Zack exclaimed in disbelief.
"Warning! Hostile threat detected. Turbulence imminent!" Ego's voice cut through the chaos.
The next moment, the air cannons struck the Avalon. The impacts rattled the cabin, and Zack felt the vibrations under his feet. Annie grabbed onto a support bar, her eyes wide with alarm. The Avalon shook violently but remained intact. Ego's diagnostic report came through immediately. "Minimal damage detected. Paint scratches only."
Zack smirked, relief mixing with pride in the ship's durability. "Not bad for a first encounter with zombie artillery."
The Avalon quickly stabilized, its flight smoothing out. Zack peered down at the mutants, his mind racing. "When did zombies start developing long-range attacks?" he muttered grimly.
The mutated zombies didn't pose much of a threat, but their peculiar abilities were enough to make Zack stay on high alert. "Sir, we're approaching the optimal release point. Should we proceed with the bombing mission?" Ego's calm, mechanical voice buzzed in Zack's ears.
"Proceed," Zack replied decisively, his curiosity about the mutant zombies overridden by practicality.
"Understood, Sir. Deploying cloud bombs now." As the Avalon flew over the horde of zombies, the bomb bay doors beneath the aircraft slid open. A massive 600-kilogram magnetic fluid cloud bomb dropped into the horde below, cutting through the air like a falling meteor.
The bomb detonated at a height of 100 meters with a thunderous explosion. Instantly, thousands of magnetic spheres, each the size of a marble, scattered into the air alongside a dense wave of dark orange high-energy fuel. The magnetic spheres repelled each other, spreading the fuel into a fine mist that blanketed a ten-kilometer radius like an ominous orange cloud.
The zombies below tilted their heads, roaring and hissing at the Avalon. Their decayed brains couldn't comprehend the danger descending upon them. The orange mist clung to every surface, adhering to the zombies' rotting flesh like a second skin. It spread with eerie precision, ensuring not a single creature escaped its reach. Then, the inevitable happened. A stray ember from the remnants of burnt vegetation below made contact with the high-energy fuel. A spark ignited, and within seconds, an explosion ripped through the air.
BOOM!
A massive fireball erupted, shooting flames high into the sky. The blast expanded outward, engulfing everything within ten kilometers in a roaring inferno. The explosion was so intense it sucked all the oxygen out of the area, creating a vacuum. Zombies were incinerated on the spot, their bodies consumed by flames so hot they began to melt the ground beneath them.
Those on the edges of the blast met equally horrifying fates. The sudden change in air pressure caused their bloated bodies to expand violently. Eyeballs burst from their sockets, organs exploded from every orifice, and the surrounding terrain became a nightmare of blood and fire.
For several seconds, the air was filled with deafening explosions and the unrelenting roar of the flames. As the fireball began to die down, air rushed back into the vacuum, creating a fierce hurricane that scattered the ash and charred remains of zombies like powder. Bones and debris were swept into the blazing center, feeding the dying flames with dry powder that smothered the fire.
When the flames finally subsided, nothing recognizable remained. The once-bustling area had been reduced to molten, glass-like earth. Rivers of magma slowly flowed over the scorched land, where no signs of life—or death—were left. Inside the Avalon, silence reigned. The sheer scale of destruction left Anne speechless.
Zack swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the hellscape below. "Unbelievable…" he muttered, his voice low and shaken. The power of the magnetic fluid cloud bomb had been described in the briefing, but seeing it in action was something else entirely. No amount of words or numbers could prepare someone for the reality of such devastating power.
"I think I understand now…" Zack murmured, recalling a quote he had read once: Humankind has devoted unparalleled creativity to destruction.
Beside him, Anne was visibly shaken. "Brother… these weapons…" Her voice trembled as she struggled to find the words. "You should keep them. I—I don't want anything to do with this…"
Zack sighed, snapping out of his daze. "Let's go back."
"Okay," Anne replied, eager to leave the horrific scene behind.
The Avalon arced gracefully in the sky, looping back toward the mansion. Zack glanced at the scorched earth below and murmured, "The mechanical beasts should be able to clear out the remaining zombies soon."
After waves of zombie hordes and the destruction from Zack's test, only a fraction of the undead population remained. The survivors were either severely damaged or strange mutant species that avoided regular zombies altogether. "It won't be long before the resources of this city are mine," Zack muttered to himself. The thought of reclaiming an entire city sparked a flicker of ambition.
As the Avalon soared toward its destination, Zack remained unaware that his actions hadn't gone unnoticed. Far above the Earth, three reconnaissance satellites hovered in low orbit, their cameras capturing every second of Zack's weapon test. Somewhere, powerful eyes were watching, and plans were being made.